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Category Archives: FA Cup

This weekend is FA Cup First Round weekend, and tomorrow remains my favourite day of the English football calendar. However closely I follow the build up, it always brings a delight, and there’s always a few teams that have me scrambling for a map.

Now my team are ‘big’, I don’t have the direct contact with it as in my earlier years, but I remember trips to places as exotic as Worcester, Doncaster and Port Vale… I was too young for the likes of Altrincham.

They say the cup is ‘for the dreamers’, and while all those teams in action tomorrow will be dreaming of better, with a quarter of an eye on a couple of rounds’ time, they are ‘the doers’, ‘the triers’ and some of them will end up as the ‘be-ers’.

Its that, the all-encompassing possibility, that I love. Anyone can be a hero in a one-off game, and there will be names in the headlines tomorrow that will perhaps never make them again.

There’s two places I want to go to with this piece, and I don’t know whether to go for the rant or the paean first. Maybe take your pick, I’ll label them accordingly.

Rant

Saturday, as you know, is a day that English football doesn’t really feature on TV. There’s a lunchtime game, which tomorrow is Stoke v Leicester. There’s a concurrent Cup game, too. Shaw Lane v Mansfield. Get the map book out, I don’t know either. Mansfield is the top end of the A38, though.

The evening game is West Ham v Liverpool, which is likely to get a decent audience but not take too much away from Newport Co v Walsall.

Saturday, as I say, isn’t a day for televised football. That day is Sunday and this glorious weekend gives the opportunity for some of the lesser lights to shine, to take their place in the Sunday spotlight and make a name for themselves.

There’s some interesting ties, too. Charlton A v Truro C, Cambridge Utd v. Sutton Utd, Leatherhead v. Billericay…the list goes on. I couldn’t pick a favourite, but there isn’t a single one on TV – you’ll get goals as they go in, and a bit of live action across the board, like a Championship night on Sky Sports News, but no full game to get one’s teeth into.

Instead, the big football viewing day of the weekend goes to the Premier League. Three games – Tottenham H v Crystal Palace as an appetiser, a goal glut to whet one’s appetite before the serious business of Manchester City v Arsenal and then Chelsea v Manchester Utd. Big games, all. Televised, all.

One weekend, one day, for the Premier League to demonstrate its respect for grassroots football, and it is singly refuses to do so.

I expect nothing less, but it frustrates me the same.

Paean.

Back when Huddersfield Town weren’t much of a time, it was difficult to find them on TV. I went, my first year of university, from upwards of 50 games a year to around 15. This was even fewer games when a disappointing Huddersfield Town ended up relegated and in the bottom tier.

One of my favourite football memories of all comes from that time, from the FA Cup First Round in 2003.

Huddersfield were drawn away to Accrington Stanley and as a potential upset, as it would undoubtedly be, the game was to be televised.

My housemates at the time were non-football people. There’s a lot to be said for this. Much as I’m an archetypal football person, since this day I’ve always loved the company of non-football people. I encourage those of you in the football bubble to seek out, from time to time, those who are outside it; they provide an alternative to something that you might not even realise you’re doing.

Because that game meant a lot (for it’s scarcity value as much as anything) I made a real effort to ensure that it was the focal point of out house in Norwich for the afternoon.

We had balloons, we had a homemade HTAFC flag and we really got into the spirit of it all. I don’t think I’ve made such effort for any game at any point.

It’s strange looking back, and knowing my mate, how unusual and out of character it must have been for him. We’re both regarded by others as being pretty gloomy people, but I’ve never found it in him, I’ve always enjoyed a similar sense of fun.

It wasn’t much of a match, truth be told. Not many thousand were packed into the ground, and the pitch was a November pitch in the north of England, being used by two teams who each possessed more spirit than ability.

Yet I also remember really enjoying it. Watching football with a neutral is one thing, but watching it with someone who hasn’t grown up with the collective assumed knowledge of the football fan is another entirely.

Some aspects of a game that seem utterly banal are actually quite wonderful; the fans actually get to touch the ball when it goes out of play! And pretty regularly, too.

The lyricism to some of the chants is a wonder as well, the talent of those terrace songsmith to produce something memorable, singable and generally quite offensive is under-rated indeed.

In the end the inevitable happened. Town’s were already down to ten men when keeper Ian Gray went off with an injured hand in the last minute, and his young replacement was beaten by an absolute belter of a strike by a substitute.

Accrington won 1-0, John Coleman made his name, and Huddersfield tumbled out of the cup. I didn’t mind too much. I’d enjoyed the experience thoroughly despite the result, at that stage maybe for the first time.

It remains my favourite First Round game, because it made me closer to one of my best friends. I’m sure, maybe he’ll read this and disagree entirely, he doesn’t recall the afternoon as well, he was just making the best of an otherwise boring afternoon.

Back Together

So yes, this weekend is FA Cup First Round weekend. The time of year, perhaps the only time of year, when all things are possible for most clubs.

I suspect that the third round used to carry more weight, but the increase in money at the bigger clubs has meant bigger and better squads, so the gaps throughout the leagues have increased, and the chances of upset decreased.

For us, though, for those of us who love the nobodies, the never-have-beens and never-will-bes, this is our weekend.

First Division Norwich City hosted struggling Division Town outfit Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup in 1987, in what was one of the Third Round’s more uneven fixtures.

The Canaries were flying high in the top flight at the time sitting sixth after 24 games and with a formidable record at Carrow Road, having lost just once at home all season. They had even enjoyed a 1-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford over Christmas, though there was no little anger from East Anglian supporters about a festive period that saw them travel to both Manchester and Sheffield in the space of a few days.

By contrast, the West Yorkshire side’s form on their travels was abject – Mick Buxton had been relieved of his post just before Christmas and it was Boxing Day before then caretaker manager Steve Smith led his side to their first away win of the campaign in his first game in charge.

With a Manchester derby on the same day, not to mention Fourth Division Aldershot knocking out top tier Oxford United, it was perhaps inevitable that East Anglia was not hosting the match of the round on the foggy January afternoon, but 11,254 did turn up – no doubt most expecting to enjoy a home win. The two sides had faced each other as recently as the previous season as Norwich, under Ken Brown, stormed to the Second Division title.

Brown put out a strong side against Huddersfield despite his side’s expected superiority, leaving only forward Robert Rosario out in favour of David Hodgson. This meant there was still no place for ex-Ipswich man Trevor Putney who was struggling to make his mark in Norfolk after joining in the summer, with injury not helping his cause.

Supporters had on Putney’s back, to the extent that his name was booed when it was read out on the tannoy, leading to an appeal by Steve Bruce for supporters to get behind their former rival. While his stint at Carrow Road wasn’t the most productive of his career, Putney stuck around for another two seasons after this, so Bruce’s words must have hit some somewhere.

Steve Smith also made only one change to his expected line up as well, with David Cork coming in in midfield in place of Paul Raynor. This meant in-form Duncan Shearer starter up front, looking to add to the ten goals he had scored in his last 12 games, including a stunning four in a 5-2 thrashing of local rivals and fellow strugglers Bradford City.

The man from Fort William was to make his mark on this tie, as well, opening the scoring during the second half to give Huddersfield a shock lead. With an upset on the cards, he had an opportunity for a second as time ran out, taking the ball round a prone Bryan Gunn only to stumble before he was able to convert what would surely have been a decisive chance.

As it was Kevin Drinkell still had time to settle matters, a top class run and finish in the 89th minute ensuring City came away with a squeaked draw and that both sides went into the hat for the fourth round.

What Happened Next?

Immediately afterwards, the country was struck by a torrent of snow and gripped by ice as one of the coldest winters in living memory all but cancelled football for the next couple of weeks, but when it did resume, the two sides faced off again at Leeds Road.

With the victors of the replay drawn against third tier Wigan in the next round, Norwich showed their strength and emerged as 4-2 victors. Unfortunately, any hopes of making it a memorable cup run were dashed at frozen Springfield Park as the unprepared Canaries fell to a 1-0 defeat. (You can see that game here)

Huddersfield rallied after the draw, winning three of their next six league games before drawing a club record six in a row throughout March and April. The steady accumulation of points saw the Terriers climb to safety, with little indication of the humiliation that was to follow the next campaign.

Norwich, meanwhile, went on to finish a then club-record 5th in the First Division, missing out on the chance of doing even better by virtue of their home record dropping off in the second part of the season. Entering this cup tie, Norwich had won seven of their twelve league games, but they were to triumph just twice more at Carrow Road, drawing six of the remaining nine.

This tendency to draw games not only affected this cup tie, but had become apparent during the Christmas period – wins against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest being complemented by draws at Sheffield Wednesday and more disappointingly, at home to struggling Charlton Athletic.

Biggest name from the game?

Bryan Gunn is still fondly remembered in Norwich, but the influence Steve Bruce was to have as a player and manager means he is probably the biggest name on the teamsheet of either side. Indeed, he went on to manage Huddersfield in what was the closest they have been to returning to the top flight since before this fixture in 1987.

I noticed a post from the excellent TheFootballPink this morning regarding the lateness of this season’s FA Cup Final – indeed this afternoon’s, on May 30th, is the joint latest in the year the final has ever been held – Chelsea’s 2009 victory over Everton being the other, but it is an indisputable point.

So I thought I’d have a look at whether or not it has crept forward and when that trend started.

That, in and of itself is fairly conclusive. Pretty much since the cup final began, it has been getting later and later in the year; the spread of football is not just geographical but also chronological – more and more football is played, and for longer, too.

Yet football isn’t the only sport that has been expanding its boundaries since the late 1800s. Here’s that same graph but representing the date of the first day of England’s first test of the summer.

Cricket, then, has been taking itself the other way. I’m sure you can see where this is going, but while I was looking through the dates of the cup finals themselves I noticed that in a couple of instances, the final was on the same day as the varsity Boat Race. Indeed, when West Brom shocked Preston North End in 1888, Preston partly laid the blame on the fact that they’d been watching the Boat Race in the morning.

So I thought I’d factor in the date of the Boat Race, too. Here, then, is that graph – Boat Race v FA Cup Final v First (Home) Test.

The FA Cup Final has clearly worked its way back later into the year, while the first test has edged towards it. The Boat Race(s) are remaining fairly consistent, but there’s a slight suggestion of going a little bit further back.

Sport is dominating the calendar and, where you could previously enjoy them all, they’re frequently running into one another.